Facts and Figures

TICE NUMBER OF marriages fell below 300,000 in 1993 for the first time in 40 years, according to newly released government figures. The number of divorces rose to 165,000, the highest recorded for one year and a three per cent rise on 1992. Of all marriages which took place in England and Wales (311,564) in 1992 more than a third (110,837) did so in London and the South East. Throughout the country there was an almost exactly the equal number of civil and church marriages. The single major exception was Greater London, where church weddings accounted for little more than a quarter of the total. Although the divorce rate has climbed, those involving men under 30 and women under 25 have dropped appreciably perhaps because they are marrying later?